Cargo racks, baskets, and other accessories are popular solutions for vehicle owners to add additional cargo carrying capacity to a car, truck, or SUV.
Many of these accessories secure to the vehicle with a receiver hitch and extend rearwardly from the back of the vehicle. The extension of these accessories rearwardly from the vehicle increases the vehicle's overall length. Particularly when the accessory is not in use, this increased length is inconvenient or undesirable when maneuvering, parking, or storing the vehicle. Solutions exist to either remove or move the accessory out of the way when not in use however, more convenient and stable solutions are desirable in the field.
With any hitch-mounted vehicle accessory, wobble is a concern. Dimensioning differences between a coupling shaft and a hitch receiver produce slight movements between the two components at the point of engagement. Since the hitch mounted accessory necessarily extends away from this point of engagement, these slight movements are magnified to a significant and noticeable wobble at the far end of the accessory. When the accessory is loaded with cargo (e.g. boxes, luggage, a motor cycle, an ATV, a bicycle, etc.), the extra mass can create a significant force moment not only on the hitch itself and the accessory shank, but also on the cargo. This can result in damage of any of these items. The problem of wobble is further compounded as more of such joints are added between the receiver hitch and the far end of the vehicle accessory, for example when a hitch adaptor is positioned between a hitch receiver and vehicle accessory. Anti-wobble (e.g. anti-tilt or hitch stabilization) devices are currently offered as after market products, but are limited in that they are only effective at stabilizing two components intended to be kept rigid to one another and are therefore not effective for use with folding or moveable mounts.